Data integrity breaches- An outline of the associated costs and risks
Data integrity mainly denotes the validity or accuracy of data. However, compromised data posit danger for enterprises. The loss of sensitive data is a huge loss for enterprises. Hence, the core focus of enterprise security is the maintenance of data integrity. Data integrity is a process and it involves the usage of validation methods and error checking methods (Sandhu, 1993). It ensures data traceability, recoverability, and connectivity. This, in turn, enhances the performance stability as well as maintainability and reusability. However, data integrity might get compromised due to human error, viruses, malware, cyber threats, and transfer errors and hacking. Data security and data integrity are considered relatable terms, however, data integrity is part of data security. By maintaining data integrity, it is possible to maintain data security in the enterprise.
Identifying the associated risks
Risks increases when there is an imbalance of data usage protocols and restrictions. Moreover, the inadequacy of preventive controls and detection control increases the risk of data breaches. The inaccuracy within the error detection systems also increases the risk of data integrity breaches. Automation is still at its initial stages and humans are still in charge of data entry or processing. When humans handle a huge amount of data, errors are most likely to occur. Without proper set-up controls, there is a higher likelihood of risks (Weiss & Miller, 2015). Moreover, errors occur in a pattern and it is essential to analyze those patterns so that control mechanisms in the organization can be strengthened. Another risk is the loss of data and the risk is high because the information is exchanged over a network. The incident of data distortions and data loss is high when information exchange occurs via networks.
Estimation of the costs
A sudden data integrity breach can be costly. The security professionals usually calculate the average costs of breaches so that they can provide a justification to the board members and senior executives of the enterprise. Costs might differ based on the circumstances of the organization. Costs of a data breach in an MNC will differ from the costs of a data breach in a small library. Nevertheless, risk assessments are conducted in both cases and executives are able to make valuable decisions based on the assessment. The IT systems are at high risk and the organization needs to rebuild the affected system so that it can improve its condition. In order to rebuild the system, costs related to labor, materials, hardware rental, and cost of lost revenue should be considered (Eling & Wirfs, 2019). In the USA, the industry regulators are imposing severe fines for potential breaches. Hence, an enterprise is in a risky position because it needs to bear compliance-related costs as well. As per the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), an enterprise might have to bear a fine of 4% of its annual turnover. Simultaneously, the organization is supposed to pay contractual penalties to the vendors, suppliers, business partners, customers, and similar other entities.
References
Eling, M., & Wirfs, J. (2019). What are the actual costs of cyber risk events?. European Journal of Operational Research, 272(3), 1109-1119.
Sandhu, R. S. (1993, September). On Five Definitions of Data Integrity. In DBSec (pp. 257-267).
Weiss, N. E., & Miller, R. S. (2015, February). The target and other financial data breaches: Frequently asked questions. In Congressional Research Service, Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress February (Vol. 4, p. 2015).